CSI
Register
Advertisement


CSIblack
Crime After Crime
Crime After Crime
Season 12
Number 8
Writer Richard Catalani,
Tom Mularz
Director Paul McCrane
Original Airdate November 16, 2011
Navigation
Previous Episode: Brain Doe
Next Episode: Zippered

Crime After Crime is the eighth episode in Season Twelve of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

Synopsis[]

When the CSI team investigates three seemingly unrelated murders, they discover someone is getting revenge for cold case murders that were never solved.

Plot[]

Victim: Kevin Fetzer (deceased)

On the case: Catherine Willows, D.B. Russell, Greg Sanders

AND

Victim: Ramon Castillo (deceased)

On the case: Nick Stokes, Sara Sidle

AND

Victim: Darlene Crocker (deceased)

On the case: Greg Sanders, Morgan Brody

Kevin Fetzer, a successful entrepreneur, throws an elaborate birthday party for himself and his friends. Unfortunately, he doesn’t survive his own celebration—he’s found dead with his pants down in the giant birthday cake. His childish underwear is on backwards, and all but eight of the candles have been removed from the massive cake. Someone wanted to make Kevin look like a child.

Kevin experienced blunt force trauma to the head, and blood evidence indicates that the beating took place where the body was found. His two front teeth have been knocked out, and Russell pulls a piece of something from between two other teeth. A bouncer tells Greg that there was one uninvited guest that Kevin had kicked out—his father, Rick.

In autopsy, Doc Robbins tells Catherine that Kevin died after choking on his broken porcelain veneers. He was struck multiple times with a spherical weapon; however, nothing of the sort was found at the scene. Meanwhile, Brass questions Rick, who left angry messages on his son’s voicemail after getting kicked out of the party. Rick says something was wrong with his son when he was a child, calling him "sick and twisted." He denies killing him, and says that he came to the party to ask Kevin for money to get his truck back. When he was denied, he went to the casino next door and won the money gambling. Rick tells Brass that he's not surprised someone "beat the hell" out of his son.

The trace from between Kevin's teeth comes back as varnished oak. A baseball bat wouldn't leave a cylindrical impression, and Hodges realizes that Kevin was killed using a wooden ball from arcade bowling. There wasn’t a game like that at the scene, so the killer brought it with them, making the weapon of choice significant. Meanwhile, Greg relays to Russell that all 200 guests at the party came back negative for blood spatter.

Catherine's search for disgruntled arcade employees is a dead end; furthermore, Kevin's arcade franchise doesn't even carry the arcade bowling game. However, when cross-referencing Kevin's name with game, she finds an old, unsolved case from when Kevin was 15: an eight-year-old boy named Mikey Moran was killed with a wooden arcade ball and left behind the arcade with his pants down. Kevin worked at the arcade and was questioned as a person of interest; however, an arrest was never made. It looks like someone turned Kevin's birthday into his judgment day.

Catherine brings Det. Vartann up to speed on the case; he was one of the officers who worked Mikey's murder. He tells Catherine that Kevin struck him as strange from the moment he saw him. Kevin was at the scene, left, and later came back with two little shoes, claiming he found them half a block away. There was a blond pubic hair on Mikey's body; however, DNA testing was new and they didn't get a result from it. Rick Fetzer's alibi checks out, and Det. Vartann tells Catherine to examine Mikey's family, as they would be the ones likely to exact revenge.

Meanwhile, Nick and Sara look into the death of a man who was shoved into a stack of tires and burned alive. He was killed in a gang neighborhood, and this particular method of death is popular in Mexico. The fire didn't destroy the flesh where his arms were pressed against his sides, and a scar identifies him as gang member Ramon Castillo, aka Espectro (“Ghost”). Det. Vega tells them that Ramon was a high-ranking member of the La Tijera gang way back and that he had a ongoing beef with Diego Barra, a member of the rival Snakeback gang. Diego has been in prison for almost a decade.

Under interrogation, Diego is surprised when told of 'Espectro's' death. He says that he desperately wanted 'Espectro' dead, but lost track of him before he could get the job done. When shown a photo of 'Espectro's' crime scene, Ramon crosses himself and whispers the name "Marta." Nick looks up Diego's known associates and finds the name Marta Arterro, who was Diego's girlfriend at the time. Rumors are that 'Espectro' was the one responsible for killing Marta, and he did so by shoving her into a stack of tires and setting her ablaze. Someone is getting revenge for Marta's death.

Elsewhere, Greg and Morgan investigate the death of Darlene Crocker, who died in her motel room after being loudly and violently attacked. There's blood all around the motel room, but no evidence that anybody left. A crystalline substance is found on the bed, while Greg recovers yellow trace from the corner of Darlene's mouth. He notes that the jagged punctures to Darlene's neck are inconsistent with a single, sharp blade. Morgan observes the broken mirror in the room and comes up with a theory.

In autopsy, Doc Robbins labels the cause of death as exsanguination due to severing of the carotid artery. The murder weapon has been identified as a piece of broken mirror from the motel room, and Darlene's prints are the only ones on the shard. Since no one was seen leaving the motel room, the thought is that Darlene killed herself. Doc Robbins smells a distinct ether-like odor in one of Darlene's organs, which he identifies as PCP. This would explain the self-mutilation—Darlene had a bad trip and attacked herself while in her hallucinatory state.

The yellow trace from Darlene's mouth comes back as pollen from the flame lily; however, there were no flowers in or directly outside the motel room. Henry confirms that there was PCP in Darlene's system, and he tells Morgan that Darlene ingested a vintage batch of the drug, as it contained PCC, a compound used to manufacture PCP until the early '90s. Morgan comments that they're dealing with a "blast from the past," which grabs the attention of a nearby Russell. He has Henry search for old connections and finds that Darlene's 12-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Chelsea, died of a PCP overdose in 1989. Her older brother, Ken, confessed to having fed it to her and got sent to prison. Russell concludes that someone forced Darlene to ingest the PCP as an act of retribution. All three cases are now acts of "deja vu."

Russell gathers the team and brings them up to speed on the connected cases. None of the cases have one thing in common; however, Sara notes that both Kevin and 'Espectro' escaped justice, but the Crocker case was solved. Darlene is paying for the crime now, leading Russell to hypothesize that the killer thinks the wrong person paid for Chelsea's death back in 1989.

Brass remembers Chelsea's case, telling Russell that the girl ripped out strands of her hair and scratched her arms to threads while she was high on PCP. Ken confessed to feeding the drugs to his sister while his mother was at home asleep. Brass recalls that Darlene gave off a weird vibe while being questioned, something that he says should've been looked into further. While in prison, Ken hired a private investigator, claiming that he was so high on drugs, he forgot he had an alibi for the night of his sister's death. The alibi was proven and Ken was released from prison, only to die in a motorcycle accident a few days later. That leaves one suspect—Darlene, whose fingerprints were also on the cup that was used to dose Chelsea. The district attorney refused to indict Darlene because, based on Ken's wrongful conviction, it would "muddy the waters." To Russell's surprise, Brass says that justice has been served and that Darlene got what was coming to her.

Henry discovers that the PCP from Darlene's motel room is from the same exact batch that killed Chelsea. Greg notes that no dealer would hold on to a batch for that long and finds that a PCP sample from Chelsea's death was checked out of the evidence vault last year by former detective Stan Richardson. The sample was never returned. Catherine questions Det. Vartann about Det. Richardson. He tells her that he and a bunch of fellow cops used to drink with the detective, and they would voice their frustrations about the job. Det. Vartann reluctantly provides Catherine with the names of those who still drink with Det. Richardson.

One of Det. Richardson's old drinking buddies is Brass. Russell fills him in, telling him that he thinks Det. Richardson is responsible for the revenge murders. Brass denies this, saying that cops always have revenge on the mind, but never act on it. He adds that Det. Richardson isn't a murderer, leading Russell to think that the detective considers the murders "justice."

Nick finds that Det. Richardson's automatic payments for rent are being sent from a hospice care facility. He and Catherine head there and find the detective in failing health, hooked up to machines. Upon being discovered, Det. Richardson confesses to the crimes; however, he hasn't been out of bed in a month. It's clear he's had help carrying out his revenge. Catherine and Nick search the room, finding a pot of recently-disturbed lily flowers. A search of the pot turns up a lock box that contains the evidence bag that previously held the PCP evidence used to kill Darlene. There's also a switchblade in a hidden compartment in the box, which Sara thinks might be tied to another cold case.

There are no prints on either the box or its contents. Sheriff Liston comes to the lab and reveals that Det. Richardson was her first partner. She doesn’t know who's working with him, but she has a bad feeling about his next target: Rex Camford. Fifteen years ago, Rex's wife filed for divorce; she vanished the next night. That same night, Rex took his boat out for a midnight cruise on Lake Mead. The body of Rex's wife was never found and no charges were filed. Sheriff Liston is convinced Rex killed his wife and she told Det. Richardson about it one night while they were drinking together.

Rex is missing, having never made it home from work. Catherine checks Det. Richardson’s phone records and finds that a disposable cell phone made calls to his room around the time of each murder—someone has been keeping the detective updated on their progress. The phone is still active, and it's pinging a signal from Lake Mead. The team figures that Rex Camford is along for the ride.

On the shore of Lake Mead, the team rolls up on Rex being beaten and drowned by Det. Vega. Nick and Brass convince Det. Vega to stop assaulting Rex, telling him that the system will handle it. Det. Vega then raises his gun and commits suicide by cop, much to the dismay of Nick and Brass. While they tend to Det. Vega, Russell successfully revives Rex, calling him "buddy" in the process. A teary-eyed Nick tells Russell to back off and let the paramedics handle it. Brass radios in the incidents, reluctantly including Rex among the victims.

The following morning, Russell looks out over the lake and wonders why Det. Vega chose that particular spot. Nick guesses that while being held at gunpoint, Rex confessed to the very spot where he dumped his wife's body. A search of the lake turns up a female skull with a bullet hole in the back of it. Nick mentions that he worked the case back then and remembers that Rex owned a colt revolver. A bullet is recovered from the skull and matched to Rex's gun, which was still in evidence. While in the hospital, an unconscious Rex gets handcuffed to his bed by Sheriff Liston.

Det. Richardson succumbs to his illness and leaves a note behind for his fellow LVPD officers. In it, he admits to exacting revenge on those who previously escaped justice, listing five names he thought were most deserving. The fifth name on the list was Det. Vega. Blood on the switchblade from the lock box came back to a murder informant Det. Vega had been working a few years past. Brass mentions that Det. Vega had a reputation for being a bit overzealous if he thought someone was holding out on him. Russell theorizes that Det. Richardson knew Det. Vega was dirty and held onto the knife to make him pay like the others did.

Brass tells Russell that the funerals for Det. Richardson and Det. Vega are on the same day, and that he plans to spend the day far out of town.

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Guest Cast[]

  • Alex Carter as Louis Vartann
  • Barbara Eve Harris as Sheriff Sherry Liston
  • Jon Wellner as Henry Andrews
  • Michael Massee as Stan Richardson
  • Geoffrey Rivas as Detective Sam Vega
  • John Brotherton as Kevin Fetzer (35 Years Old)
    • Jonathan Decker as Kevin Fetzer (16 Years Old)
    • Riley Thomas Stewart as Kevin Fetzer (10 Years Old)
  • Cooper Huckabee as Rick Fetzer
  • Jodi Carol Harrison as Darlene Crocker
  • Roopashree Jeevaji as Receptionist
  • Valerie Hennessy as Beautiful Onlooker
  • Ramón Franco as Diego Barra
  • James Aldridge as Jimmy, Assistant Coroner
  • Mitch Eakins as Hair-gelled Bro
  • Amber Coyle as Model (uncredited)

Major Events[]

  • Det. Sam Vega commits suicide by cop after it's discovered he's been carrying out revenge murders for Det. Stan Richardson. Geoffrey Rivas played Det. Vega for 21 episodes, starting way back in Season One.

Notes[]

  • Det. Stan Richardson's letter to his colleagues reads:

To my colleagues, who have shared the burden of the badge. Many of you won't agree with my methods, but all of you will understand what it's like to have all the pieces set before you, the picture painted broad and clear, and watch the killer walk away to live the life they tore from others. Well, I could not let that continue. I made a list. Five names. Those most deserving of vengeance. And now, as I embark into life's last mystery, I do so in peace. Detective Stanley Richardson, Las Vegas Police Department.

See Also[]

CSI:Las Vegas Season 12
73 SecondsTell-Tale HeartsBittersweetMaid ManCSI DownFreaks & GeeksBrain DoeCrime After CrimeZipperedGenetic DisorderMs. Willows RegretsWillows in the WindTressed to KillSeeing RedStealing HomeCSI UnpluggedTrends with BenefitsMalice in WonderlandSplit DecisionsAltered StakesDune and GloomHomecoming
Advertisement